I recently finished the book, Creative Schools by Ken Robinson & Lou Aronica. You may be familiar with Ken Robinson’s famous TED Talk, “Do schools kill creativity?” It’s my all-time favorite TED Talk. And I am not alone in this. It is one of the all-time highest ranking TED Talk ever. In fact, let me say that if you have not seen it, please skip reading this post and go watch it right now. You will not regret it and I will not be offended that you ditched this post.

Now, back to the book for those of you who are still here 🙂 It is hard to know where to begin with the topic because it is just spot-on all over the place! Robinson makes a strong point about the negative impact that standardized testing is having on education. He also walks us through the reasons why we are making a mistake leaving out the arts and creativity in our schools.

Personally, I have always felt passionately disappointed at the second tier treatment the arts and physical education receive in our current academic system.  For the past 13 years, my  job has always involved working with the ‘special area’ teachers as they are called. It seems to me that those subjects are like the sprinkles on top of a cupcake. We like them there. They look pretty.  But the other subjects are the real cake. From what I have noticed, parents rarely have any idea the names of these teachers, much less an understanding of the expected learning outcomes from these subjects. In addition, budget cuts always affect these areas first. It’s bad press to get rid of them altogether, but no one is holding the subjects in high regard. Why is that?

Robinson puts into words all the hunches that have nagged at me but that I never could pin down. His credibility as a thought-leader in the world of education is solid. He has a PhD in Education and was a professor of education in England for many years. He has written several books on this topic. He has worked with governments in Europe and Asia, as well as national and state education systems. Needless to say, I really admire the work he is doing around this topic. As he says:

Most national curricula are based on the idea of discrete subjects. In most systems there is a hierarchy to these subjects. At the top are literacy, mathematics and now STEM disciplines. Next come the humanities , including history, geography, and social studies. Because the standards movement emphasizes academic study, it places less value on practical disciplines like art, drama, dance, music, design and physical education and on “soft subjects” like communications and media studies, which are all thought to be non-academic.

So what are we supposed to do? Make every student drop their math book and pick up an instrument? Absolutely not. Ken Robinson is NOT advocating for downgrading reading, writing and arithmetic. No one believes that a child without these important foundations will have an easy time in life. They are KEY! What he is advocating for is to give the arts, physical education and creative subjects the same importance. Because a child whose gifts lie in a creative inclination and not in the core three will leave school feeling like a failure based on the importance weighted on the rest. If the message is that your “specials” are just fluff, then how can that not impact your sense of self?

“In my view, a balanced curriculum should give equal status and resources to the following: the arts, humanities, lanaguage arts, mathematics, physical education and science. ….the right balance of these disciplines allows schools to cater to the personal strengths and interests of students as individuals.”

Haven’t you seen the focus and attention of a child doing something they love? Heck, even adults in their element. You are ready to learn and absorb everything about your beloved topic of choice. When I am directing my own learning, I cannot get enough. I am constantly reading books, listening to podcasts or taking online courses on areas that I am naturally drawn to. Here’s what Robinson says about the natural decline in curiosity that often happens as children go through the schooling gauntlet.

Learning is the process of acquiring new knowledge and skills. Human beings are highly curious learning organisms. From the moment they’re born, young children have a voracious appetite for learning. For too many, that appetite starts to dull as they go through school. Keeping it alive is the key to transforming education.

The natural gap starts to happen as the kids who are not as “good” at school begin to increasingly identify themselves as less smart:

As the story goes, the smart kids go to college. The others may leave school early and look for a job or apply for a vocational course to learn a trade of some sort. Either way, they have taken a step down the status ladder in education. This academic/vocational caste system is one of the most corrosive problems in education.

Robinson also really focuses on the detrimental impact of the standardization and the testing movement that has swept many countries.

The standards movement is not achieving the objectives it has set for itself. Meanwhile, it is having catastrophic consequences on student engagement and teacher morale.

The problem with conformity in education is that people are not standardized to begin with…By conformity I mean the institutional tendency in education to judge students by a single standard of ability and to treat those who don’t meet it as “less able” or “disabled” — as deviations from the norm.

…education is not an industrial process at all; it is an organic one. Education is about living people, not innanimate things.”

Once he lays out the data, history and facts as to why the current model isn’t working in the way we hoped it would, he spends quite a bit of time diving into school systems and countries doing it right. He then lays out the vision for what could be a move in the right direction. He also outlines the natural ecosystem of responsibilities:

..the focus of education has to be on creating the conditions in which students will want and be able to learn.

…the role of the teacher is to facilitate the students’ learning.

..the role of the principal is to create the conditions in their schools in which teachers can fulfill their roles.

..the role of policymakers is to create conditions….in which principals and schools can fulfill these responsibilities.

Robinson lays out 8 core competencies that schools should facilitate if they are really going to help students succeed in their lives. Instead of saying that one subject is better than the others, how do we weave these 8 core competencies throughout all of the subjects? The subject will be what engages the student…the competencies are what they will take with them after the class is over:

Curiosity – the ability to ask questions and explore how the world works

Creativity – the ability to generate new ideas and apply them in practice.

Criticism – the ability to analyze information and ideas and to form reasoned arguments and judgements.

Communication – the ability to express thoughts and feelings clearly and confidently in a range of media and forms.

Collaboration – the ability to work constructively with others.

Compassion – the ability to empathize with others and to act accordingly

Composure – the ability to connect with the inner life of feelings and develop a sense of personal harmony and balance.

Citizenship – the ability to engage constructively with society and to participate in the processes that sustain it.

What are your thoughts on these competencies? What kind of impact could  you see creative schools having on the future of education?

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